May 16, 2023
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The shipping sector is sustained by a modern fleet of vessels belonging to different segments. Some ships carry general cargo, while others are specialised bulkers or ice-breaking ships made to ply the harshest shipping routes. A Few vessels, like tug boats, handle offshore projects, while cruise ships are built for leisure activities.
In this article, we bring you the crowning vessel of each type, a leader of maritime innovation and design in its segment. Let us have a look at the 12 biggest ships in the world.
Ever Alot snatched the title of the world’s biggest container ship from the Ever Ace when it was delivered to the Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine in June 2022. It was constructed by Hudong-Zhonghua, a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
The vessel not only impresses with its enormous dimensions but also with its environment-friendly and efficient maritime technology.
Ever Alot is the 7th vessel in the Evergreen A-Class and the world’s first container ship to pass the 24,000 TEU mark. Once in service, it will regularly ply to and from Europe and Asia.
It is 400 metres long, 61.5 metres broad and has a draft of 17 metres. To put it in perspective, it is wider than three football fields combined. It is not only spacious but also consumes far less fuel and energy than other vessels of similar size.
Ever Alot’s unique features include an innovative gas treatment system for adhering to emission limits, energy-saving devices and a bulb-less bow which decreases fuel consumption.
Its gross tonnage is 236228 tonnes, and its summer deadweight is 241000 tonnes. The ship is currently sailing under the flag of Panama. Her delivery was delayed a bit due to continuous shutdowns in Shanghai to contain the spread of Omicron and other variants, which also led to port congestions.
The wonder of the Seas is the biggest cruise ship in the world. Owned by Royal Carribean Group, it belongs to the Oasis Class and is an engineering marvel equipped with adventure, fun and thrill. It offers something for everyone.
She is as graceful and as elegant as a cruise vessel can be. In fact, categorising it as a vessel might be wrong. It’s better to call it a floating city! And that too, very luxurious.
She measures 1188 ft lengthwise and has a gross tonnage of 236,858. She can comfortably accommodate 6988 passengers and 2300 crew members.
The ship is designed so that it won’t feel crowded. It has many neighbourhoods, like the boardwalk, the pool and sports area, the serene central park filled with natural plants, the Royal Promenade with exotic restaurants, lounges and bars, and the youth zone for the teens and young adults with an out-of-world arcade and gaming zone, and vitality fitness and spa area for relaxing.
It has an exclusive suite neighbourhood for suite guests, with each guest having access to a private outdoor deck with its own bar, restaurants, pool and lounge. The ship also offers an array of dining options to its guests. Cuisine from any part of the world can be found here.
SSC Sleipnir was ordered in 2015 and constructed in Singapore by Smebcorp Marine. After its completion in 2019, it took over the SSCV Thialf as the biggest crane ship in the world.
Interestingly, it was named after the legendary eight-legged horse of Odin, the god of war and death in Norse mythology.
The vessel has two revolving cranes, with a 10,000-lifting capacity each. It is operated by Herrema Marine Contractors and is the first vessel of its type to be powered by LNG.
It has eight thrusters and can attain a speed f 12 knots. In 2019, the vessel successfully completed a lift of 15,300 tons in the Leviathan Gas field, Israel.
It is used to install or remove jackets, topsides, foundations, moorings and modules. It is 220 m long, 102 m wide and has a 12 to 32 m draft. Sleipnir has LED lighting, an energy recovery system and a novel silicon-based anti-fouling paint.
MS Ore Brasil was built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, South Korea, in 2011 for the Brazilian mining company Vale. The Very Large Ore Carrier, with 402347 tons carrying capacity, is currently sailing under the flagship of Hong Kong.
Earlier known as the Vale Brasil, it is the first of other seven 400,000 tonnes of VLOCs ordered by her owner from Daewoo and the other twelve from China. It was made to ship iron ore from Brazilian mines to Asian countries along the Cape of Good Hope around South Africa.
It contains seven cargo compartments with a total volume of 219,980 m3. She has a deadweight tonnage of about 402,347 tonnes. She can carry 11,150 trucks worth of iron ore when fully loaded and has a draught of 23 m. She has an overall length of 362 m and a breadth of 65.06 m.
The carrier can enter only specific deepwater ports in Europe, Brazil and China due to its enormous size.
The popularity of solar-powered vessels in the maritime domain is credited to Swiss engineer Raphael Domjan who harboured a dream of designing such a vessel for a long time. However, his vision was realised only in the late 2000s when he garnered supporters to make it a reality.
PlanetSolar took over a year to build and is 31 m long, 15 m broad, and around 6 m high, with a 1.5 m draft. It has a yacht-like design to offer comfort to its guests. 38,000 solar voltaic cells are spread over 5000 sq ft of its roof area. These cells absorb solar energy and store it in the 12 lithium-ion batteries in storage boxes.
The boat can easily accommodate 40 people, and in 2019, it took a tour from Monaco and passed through many places like the Galapagos, South Americas, Asia and waters near the Equator.
Named after the CMA CGM Group founder, Jacques Saade is an innovative vessel with numerous environment-friendly features. It was built at the Shanghai Jiangnan-Changxing Shipyard and was completed in 2020. She began operations on 23rd September 2020 and is sailing under the French flag.
She has a 23,000 TEU capacity and is the first ship of this size propelled by LNG. It is endowed with the latest technology and offers an enhanced map viewing option for easy navigation. It also contains a path prediction technology, which can display a predicted future location. The smart eye system provides a bird’s eye view of the surrounding region. It also has a system for managing the ventilation of reefer carriers.
To improve its performance, its hull is hydrodynamically optimised. It has a straight bow and an improved propellor and rudder. The 400 m long and 61 m broad ship flaunts an LNG-powered Logo, a symbol of innovation in the maritime industry.
Aircraft carriers are a crucial naval asset for any country, not only for conducting war operations but also for guarding the nation’s territorial waters. Five nations, including the United States, Britain, France, India and China, operate the largest aircraft carriers.
However, the largest among the lot is the US Navy’s latest Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers. Around ten such carriers would be built; however, the first one was commissioned in 2017.
Regarded as a strong warship of the future, this carrier was constructed at a whopping of around 13 million US Dollars, along with additional research and development expenses of 37.3 billion dollars.
The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier measures 1,106 ft lengthwise and has a displacement of 112,000 tons. It can accommodate more than 4500 people onboard.
The warship has many surface-to-air missiles and machine guns- RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, RIM-116 and M2. The carrier can hold over 57 aircraft, such as the Sikorsky MH-60R helicopters and the Lockheed Martin F-35.
The novel watercraft was constructed by China Yangtze Power in collaboration with the Hubei Three Gorges Tourism Group. It measures 100 m lengthwise, 16.3 m breadthwise, and can easily accommodate 1300 people.
Mainly built for tourism and entertainment, it offers a plethora of activities to its guests onboard. The project was completed at the expense of about 23.5 million dollars.
The electric vessel is endowed with 15 Ningde times batteries and can sail up to 100 km if charged only once. Power to the vessel is supplied through the Three Gorges Dam situated in the area.
Unique features of the ship include low equipment failure possibilities and fewer operations and maintenance costs. It also has an automated control mechanism and a smart power management system for reducing power loss. It also has one of the most efficient air conditioning systems compared to similar vessels.
Eco-Livorno, one of the world’s most efficient RORO vessels, belongs to Grimaldi’s 5th Generation Class. They were constructed in the Nanjing shipyard along with 11 other hybrid ships.
Eco Livorno is an Italian-flagged vessel measuring 238 m lengthwise. It has a 34 m beam and seven decks, out of which two are hoistable. It can take around 7800 linear m of cargo.
An eco-friendly vessel, it minimises greenhouse gas emissions significantly. While it is berthed, it releases zero emissions since it utilises the power in its mega lithium battery. The batteries are charged by the solar panels installed on the vessel. Also, it is equipped with electronically controlled engine systems and an innovative exhaust gas cleaning system. It frequents the ports of Barcelona, Livorno and Valencia.
Spartacus was delivered to its owner, the DEME Group, in 2021. It was constructed in the Dutch shipyard RoyalIHC and included several innovations for reducing carbon and sulphur emissions.
It is a self-propelled cutter suction dredger that can be driven by LNG, making it one of a kind worldwide.
Spartacus has a power of 44,180kW, which makes it easily cut through hard soils. It has four main engines and two auxiliary ones, along with a unique system that changes the heat released from the exhaust into electric energy.
The ship’s first project was in Abu Qir, Egypt, where it participated in one of the biggest land reclamation projects handled by the company.
Island Victory is a special offshore installation ship owned by Island Offshore. It can handle multiple operations, which would otherwise require the service of many vessels. Hence, it has a flexible and extensive work profile, adding to its popularity.
The vessel has 2 Rolls-Royce engines with a power of 8000kW. It is 123 m long, 25 m broad and has a draught of 9.4 m. The ship’s decks span 1200 square metres.
It was designed by Kongsberg Maritime and is equipped with 2 deck and two rail cranes, 2 ROVs, a moon pool, a huge offshore crane and a DP2 mechanism.
Hence, the vessel can undertake extensive offshore duties like laying subsea equipment on the seafloor, maintenance of oil rigs, installation of wind turbines and windmills, and also anchor handling operations.
It can also carry out oil recovery in the Norwegian region. For this purpose, the vessel has a storage tank for keeping 2300 m3 of oil. Lastly, the ship can carry 110 people.
The world’s biggest and most powerful nuclear-powered ice-breaker, Arktika, was constructed in St.Petersburg, Baltic Shipyard.
It has a nuclear power plant with 2 pressurised water reactors driven by enriched uranium and two turbo generators.
It can displace about 33,000 tons and has a length of 570 metres and a height of 168 m. The crew can expect excellent visibility of the surface ice and their surrounding areas from the ship. It is also larger than other ice-breakers owned by Russia.
It was designed to operate in harsh conditions of the northern sea shipping routes. It is strong enough to break 9 feet of ice while moving at 2 knots. Currently, Russia is the sole owner of nuclear-powered ice-breaker ships in the world.
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